Deficiency and supplementation of PUFA in the diet have similar effects on the age-associated changes in rat-plasma cholesterol levels.
Levels of plasma cholesterol, particularly LDL cholesterol, increase with increasing age in humans and rodents. Feeding a fish oil-rich diet may exert hypocholesterolemic effects. The aim of this work was to examine the effects of a life-long administration of a PUFA-enriched diet and of a PUFA-deficient diet in male Sprague-Dawley rats on the age-associated increases in plasma cholesterol and triglycerides. Diet had small effects on body-weight, and had dramatic effects on liver phospholipids-fatty acids. Surprisingly, both diets counteracted the age-associated changes in plasma cholesterol and triglycerides similarly and benefits were already visible in adult rats.
Straniero
Sara
S
Centro di Ricerca di Biologia e Patologia dell'Invecchiamento, Università di Pisa, via Roma 55, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Cavallini
Gabriella
G
Donati
Alessio
A
Metelli
Maria Rita
MR
Tamburini
Ilaria
I
Pietrini
Pietro
P
Bergamini
Ettore
E
D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood*; D000818:Animals; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated; D005227:Fatty Acids; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D010743:Phospholipids; D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol